Challenger Tour Roundup: Barrios Vera, Holmgren, and Kuzmanov TriumphChallenger Tour Roundup: Barrios Vera, Holmgren, and Kuzmanov Triumph Amersfoort Tomas Barrios Vera claimed his fourth Challenger title in Amersfoort, defeating Alexei Zakharov 6-2 6-1 in the final. Zakharov had impressed in the early rounds but was outmatched by Barrios Vera’s aggressive style. Granby Bu Yunchaokete overcame a tough start to win his third Challenger title. He fought back from a deficit against Bruno Kuzuhara in the semifinals and defeated Terence Atmane 6-3 6-7 6-4 in the final. Bu’s physical game proved too much for Atmane. Astana Dimitar Kuzmanov returned from injury to claim his second Challenger title in Astana. He defeated Saba Purtseladze 6-4 6-3 in the final. Purtseladze’s first serve was a threat, but Kuzmanov’s consistency prevailed. Pozoblanco Augustus Holmgren won his first Challenger title in Pozoblanco. He defeated Antoine Escoffier 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the final. Holmgren’s aggressive shot-making proved too much for Escoffier, who had previously reached a Challenger final last year. Upcoming Events This week’s Challenger Tour events include: * Zug Open (Challenger 125, clay) * Internazionali di Tennis Verona (Challenger 100, clay) * Chicago Men’s Challenger (Challenger 75, hard) * Tampere Open (Challenger 75, clay) * Open Castilla y Leon (Segovia, Challenger 50, hard) Top 100 Players in Action * Bottic of the Zandschulp (Zug) * Francisco Comesana (Tampere) First Round Matches to Watch Zug * Kamil Majchrzak vs. Maks Kasnikowski * (ALT) Jerome Kym vs. (4) Juan Manuel Cerundolo Verona * (1) Pedro Cachin vs. (ALT) Francesco Maestrelli * Samuel Vincent Ruggeri vs. (4) Richard Gasquet * (7) Alejandro Moro Canas vs. Jacopo Berrettini
Tomas Barrios Vera is on one of his classic hot streaks, winning Amersfoort right after reaching the Trieste final. August Holmgren was the only first-time champion this week, while Bu Yunchaokete showed he can overcome adversity better than he has in the past two weeks. Dimitar Kuzmanov was the other winner on the Challenger Tour, taking his 2nd trophy in Astana. Read back on last week’s action:
Amersfoort
Alexei Zakharov has shown some signs of improvement since returning from a two-year break in the autumn of 2023, but none were as evident as the run he put in in Amersfoort. The Russian took two solid wins in qualifying before knocking out home crowd favourites Jelle Sels and Deney Wassermann. That wasn’t enough for the 24-year-old, who proceeded to thrash Daniel Rincon and Enrico Dalla Valle to reach his first Challenger final.
Tomas Barrios Vera was out of shape for months ahead of Trieste the week before Amersfoort, but he suddenly found it again. Although his final against Federico Agustin Gomez was virtually non-existent, that didn’t stop the Chilean from tearing through the draw in the Netherlands a few days later. Even drawing second seed Jurij Rodionov in the opening round couldn’t slow him down, as only 2022 quarterfinalist Max Houkes took a set from him in the last four.
Barrios Vera may have been a no-show in the Trieste final the week before, but Amersfoort was a different story. From start to finish he dominated Zakharov with his aggressive, flat-hitting style, never letting the Russian get comfortable. He claimed his 4th Challenger title 6-2 6-1. Both finalists chose to withdraw from the Challenger events they were scheduled to play this week: Barrios Vera in Tampere, Zakharov in Zug.
Granby
At Yunchaokete has been playing well since the start of the North American Challenger swing, but suffered a mental breakdown after blowing leads against Learner Tien in Bloomfield Hills and Benjamin Bonzi in Winnipeg. This time around, the Chinese was simply more clinical about the advantages he built up for himself, although he also had to fight back in the match against Bruno Kuzuhara. The American was already leading 6-4 3-0 before Bu could make the comeback.
Terence Atmane went down to Brandon Holt in the second round in Winnipeg to start the North American hardcourt swing. Seeded second in Granby, the Frenchman steamrolled through his first three opponents, including a 6-1 6-0 dismissal of Tung-Lin Wu. He was pushed by Yasutaka Uchiyama in the semifinals, but stayed ahead in the deciding round and pressed the Japanese until he broke. Atmane reached his first final in 10 months.
Bu’s physical grinding style was an immediate problem for Atmane, but the Frenchman went big on the match point saves in set 2 and took it to a deciding set. The way the Chinese overcame that disappointment, however, was very different from his matches of the previous two weeks. He simply kept grinding and was rewarded with his 3rd Challenger title 6-3 6-7 6-4. Both finalists will now appear in Chicago. Atmane had to withdraw from the qualifiers for Atlanta because of his Granby run, but took a special exemption spot for the Challenger in Illinois.
Astana
Apart from a great run to the semi-finals in Mauthausen, Dimitar Kuzmanov has struggled with form this year and has also recently suffered a calf injury that kept him out for a month. His ranking has since dropped to No. 356 in the world and the Bulgarian had to be sharp in his first tournament back. It wasn’t always pretty, as his second-round match against net-rushing Egor Agafonov went to a tiebreaker, but he managed to overcome the setback and reached the final (his first in 13 months).
Saba Purtseladze won five ITF titles in the past three seasons (all in Sharm el Sheikh), and was extremely dominant in some runs. The Georgian was still looking for his first Challenger main draw win for Astana, despite his top-heavy play. However, it was the first time he found that form at an event of this level, as he defeated four opponents in a row without dropping a set (or even four games in a set).
Purtseladze’s first serve continued to do huge damage in the final, but the Georgian struggled with his percentages. It wasn’t until deep into the second set that he started to get his first serve percentage up from around 40%. That put Kuzmanov in a pretty solid position going into the final, and the Bulgarian won it 6-4 6-3 to claim his 2nd Challenger title (2021 Barcelona). He’s now back in the Top 300, as both finalists are expected to appear in ITF events next week – Purtseladze on the same courts in Astana, Kuzmanov on clay in Bacau.
Pozoblanco
Antoine Escoffier broke through to the Challenger level late in his career and you never know how many chances he might get for a first Challenger trophy. He missed the biggest one last year in Segovia, when he reached his first final and lost to Pablo Llamas Ruiz. This year he already seemed to be in decline, but took his chance as top favorite in Pozoblanco (a venue he likes to play, reached the quarter-finals in 2022-23) to reach another Challenger final.
Augustus Holmgren is slowly making good progress after his college career at the University of San Diego. The Dane won a stack of ITF in Nottingham just before Pozoblanco, including victories over Jack Pinnington Jones or Kyle Edmund. It was the perfect momentum for the biggest Challenger run of his career, as Holmgren lost just one set on his way to his first final, after being a set down against Egor Gerasimov in the semi-finals.
It was quite an epic clash of styles in the final, with Holmgren tirelessly attacking the net and hitting forehands, while Escoffier tried to shake him off with all the touch and variety he possesses. The speedy Frenchman had the upper hand early on, but soon found himself unable to follow all the big shots and never really found the counterattack later on. Holmgren held his nerve to claim his first Challenger title 3-6 6-3 6-4, with the dream of making the US Open qualification still alive if he can make a run at Segovia, the event Escoffier is also playing this week.
Events taking place this week:
- Zug Open (Challenger 125, clay)
- Internazionali di Tennis Verona (Challenger 100, clay)
- Chicago Men’s Challenger (Challenger 75, hard)
- Tampere Open (Challenger 75, clay)
- Open Castilla y Leon (Segovia, Challenger 50, hard)
Top 100 players in action:
- Bottic of the Zandschulp (Zug)
- Francisco Comesana (Tampere)
First round matches to watch:
Zug
- Kamil Majchrzak vs. Maks Kasnikowski
- (ALT) Jerome Kym vs. (4) Juan Manuel Cerundolo
Kasnikowski and Majchrzak will meet for the third time in 2024. The youngest of the Poles was recently the winner en route to the title in Poznan, while the former Top 100 player defeated him in Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve in February.
Verona
- (1) Pedro Cachin vs. (ALT) Francesco Maestrelli
- Samuel Vincent Ruggeri vs. (4) Richard Gasquet
- (7) Alejandro Moro Canas vs. Jacopo Berrettini
Maestrelli defeated Cachin to win his only Challenger title in Verona two years ago. Vincent Ruggeri and Gasquet will form a rivalry in 2024, with the experienced Frenchman currently leading 2-1 in their head-to-head matches (but losing their most recent match in Trieste).
Chicago
- Joao Fonseca vs Yuta Shimizu
- (WC) Student Ten vs (2) Benjamin Bonzi
Tampere
- (1) Francisco Comesana vs. Jiri Vesely
- Facundo Mena vs. (3) Dmitry Popko
Segovia
- (1) Antoine Escoffier vs. Iliyan Radulov
- Mohamed Safwat vs (2) Jules Marie
Main photo credit: IMAGO Images Felipe Zanca/Photosport
